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INTRODUCTION Many metabolic disorders such as thyroid disease or lipodystrophy (LD) are associated with changes in body composition, energy expenditure or both. (1,2) In describing the phenotypes of such conditions, [...], BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to develop approaches to expressing resting energy expenditure (REE) and lean body mass (LM) phenotypes of metabolic disorders in terms of Z- scores relative to their predicted healthy values. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Body composition and REE were measured in 135 healthy participants. Prediction equations for LM and REE were obtained from linear regression and the range of normality by the standard deviation of residuals. Application is demonstrated in patients from three metabolic disorder groups (lipodystrophy, n = 7; thyrotoxicosis, n = 16; and resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH), n = 46) in which altered REE and/or LM were characterised by departure from the predicted healthy values, expressed as a Z-score. RESULTS: REE (kJ/min) = -0.010 x age (years) + 0.016 x FM (kg) + 0.054 x fat- free mass (kg) + 1.736 ([R.sup.2] = 0.732, RSD = 0.36kJ/min). LM (kg) = 5.30 x bone mineral content (kg) + 10.66 x [height.sup.2] (m) + 6.40 (male). LM (kg) = 0.20 x fat (kg) + 14.08 x [height.sup.2] (m) - 2.93 (female). (male [R.sup.2] = 0.55, RSD = 3.90 kg; female [R.sup.2] = 0.59, RSD = 3.85 kg). We found average Z-scores for REE and LM of 1.77 kJ/min and -0.17 kg in the RTH group, 5.82 kJ/min and -1.23 kg in the thyrotoxic group and 2.97 kJ/min and 4.20 kg in the LD group. CONCLUSION: This approach enables comparison of data from individuals with metabolic disorders with those of healthy individuals, describing their departure from the healthy mean by a Z-score. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2014) 68, 234-240; doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2013.237; published online 27 November 2013 Keywords: resting energy expenditure; lean mass; body composition; Z-score; metabolic disease

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Dental Cognitions Questionnaire (DCQ). This measure contains 38 items and assesses both frequency and believability of negative cognitions related to dental treatment. The results indicated that the DCQ has good internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, and satisfactory concurrent validity, as indicated by positive associations with indices of anxiety and other cognitive measures (n = 180). Factor analysis revealed a one factor solution. Furthermore, the DCQ discriminated strongly between dental phobics (n = 85) and non-phobic Ss (n = 70). Moreover, it was found that combinations of DCQ items have substantially more explanatory power than did a measure of dental trait anxiety, explaining up to 70.7% of the variance in state anxiety ratings in the dental situation. Overall, it appears that dental phobics have many extremely negative beliefs and self-statements about themselves and about what might happen during treatment. Since certain cognitions seem to play a critical role in fear evocation, diminishing catastrophizing ideation may be an important determinant of adjustment to dental treatment and reduction of psychological distress.